The European Red List of Trees classified 37% of
Europe’s 454 native tree species as “threatened.”
Of those, 15% are “critically endangered,” a step
away from extinction, the report said.
The findings come amid heightened concern
about environmental issues and extinction
risks in Europe and beyond. A U.N. report
on biodiversity released in May warned that
extinction looms for over 1 million species of
plants and animals.
IUCN, a 71-year-old organization known for its
“Red List” classification of threatened species, said
that “invasive and problematic” species are the top
threat to European trees, with urban development
and “unsustainable logging” as other factors.
The group’s Europe director, Luc Bas, said
“human-led activities” were resulting in
population declines of important tree species.
Among the recommendations , the report’s
authors called for the creation of protected
areas, improved monitoring and increased
research on the impacts of climate change on
forests and individual tree species.
The conservancy highlighted Aesculus
hippocastanum, or the horse chestnut tree, native
to southeastern Europe. The polished brown
conker inside its spiked fruit “is perhaps more
famous than the tree itself” because of its use in
children’s playground games, the report said.
The species, present in Europe since before the
last Ice Age, has been threatened by defoliation
because of the leaf miner moth, and a blotch
caused by a fungus, as well as by human
pressures. It is endangered in Bulgaria and
Greece and critically endangered in Albania.